Chapter 63. To You (5)
Hajin had his reasons for arranging this version as city pop.
‘The kids’ vocal skills are lacking.’
Dan Haru was decent enough, but Seo Taehyun was not capable of handling the original version of , and Park Jaeyoung was out of the question. Jaiden, from the start, was pushing for the rap position.
If they tried to fully showcase the immense technique of the original song, they would be buried alive before debuting.
‘We’d get immortalized as “Can’t Shout to You” or just plain “Shout”.’
And Hajin had no intention of being buried as one of Sarin’s many sacrificial lambs, worth as much as his bank balance (which was zero).
‘So, we just need to do what we’re good at.’
This is how we break up
We really seem to have broken up
With Jaiden handling the singing-rap part, they all stopped moving. While each expressed different characters, only Jaiden, who was singing his part, moved. As he moved along the line, pair choreography followed whenever he faced each member.
Just spending an ordinary day, sometimes,
Grabbing at the slow-moving time, sometimes,
The LED, which previously depicted the sunset sky, now showed the night view of a dark city.
Another repetition of the highlight.
Transposed up one key, making the high notes even harder, but Hajin sang with a relaxed expression.
‘It feels like I could raise the notes a bit higher.’
But in this performance, overdoing emotions would be a detriment. So, Hajin restrained himself, adding variations just enough to avoid monotony.
Because…
‘It’s not yet time to explode.’
The next part followed immediately. It was the part Taehyun had handled with falsetto.
Unlike the first verse, where all instruments were muted, this time the accompaniment was more splendid yet lonely.
At the same time, Haru and Taehyun came out together, facing each other at the center.
Bye, Oh Bye!
The transposed key made the range even tighter for falsetto. But this time, Haru, with his pure high voice that seemed never to have experienced a voice change, handled the part effortlessly.
Bye, Oh Good Bye!
Yes, finally arrived at our end
On top of Haru’s clear voice, Taehyun’s slightly husky bass harmony was added. The top line of the bell sound from the intro rang again, like a school bell.
♪♬♬♪♪―♪♪♩―
And then the dance break began.
Seo Taeil, who had been tapping his pen to the familiar arranged melody, laughed.
“They kept what needed to be kept, I see.”
The rhythmic solo of the brass instruments and the various keyboard sounds that supported it.
It was the jazz-themed arrangement that had been heavily criticized during the mid-evaluation. The trainees, naturally blending into the song, formed formations and stepped lightly.
Same steps, same expressions, same lines.
But the feeling coming through was different. It was not just to avoid the original song; the emotions they wanted to express were clear.
“…It’s peculiar.”
Unlike the first verse, where they showed uniformity with school uniforms, now each had a completely different styling.
Since complete undressing was impossible on stage, there were unavoidable remnants.
But that was more effective.
“They look like grown-up classmates meeting again, don’t they?”
“Smart thinking. The outfit changes too.”
Bright faces and radiant smiles despite the sad lyrics. But the lonely and wistful sentiment inherent in the city pop genre.
The performance centered on Taehyun, who was born to express such emotions, and Haru, who embodied a youthful and fresh feeling.
‘Unfortunately, my impression or style is quite unsuitable for this genre.’
Knowing well that he had a rather intense impression, which didn’t fit the concept of “memories rising with the sunset,” Hajin had no choice but to focus on Taehyun and assign the center to Haru. However,
‘Why should it start and end with Seo Taehyun?’
Although the stage started with Seo Taehyun’s wish fulfillment, Hajin had no intention of becoming one of Seo Taehyun and the kids, just as much as he valued his friendship with Han Sungwoo (which was negative).
And that could also be expressed differently,
Yes, finally arrived at our end
‘I have no intention of being a stage prop just because I look fierce.’
As the dance break ended, Hajin took a small breath. The accompaniment, which had been consistently calm, was now slightly richer due to the jazz-influenced dance break.
For the final highlight, Hajin started singing at the precise timing.
At the end of all the special days,
At the end of all the time that’s already passed,
Hajin raised his pitch deliberately, adding strength to his voice with a moderate mixed falsetto, just as the original song’s explosive emotion line was conveyed.
So, we,
Really, we’re breaking up like this
The end of our love
Although his voice slightly cracked at the end of the intense emotional delivery, even that felt like a part of the expression. The beautiful piano melody accompanied a slightly slower tempo. As Taehyun gracefully moved among the trainees who were looking in different directions.
Bye, Oh Bye!
Bye, Oh Good Bye!
Yes, finally arrived at our end
With calculated ending poses right down to the fingertips, the stage slowly darkened.
Hmm― hmmm―
With the humming sound from the intro, the signature bell sound now played monotonously like a music box.
At the end of the stage, the desk and mailbox reappeared.
Now out of his school uniform, Haru walked slowly between the lights and took the letter out of the drawer.
Hmm― hmmm―
Yes, finally arrived at our…
With a voice that sounded like a whisper to someone, Haru put the letter into the mailbox as the song ended.
Looking straight at the front of the stage, Hajin saw Seo Taeil quietly smiling and thought.
‘It worked.’
He didn’t know about anything else, but he felt relieved. And it seemed that the ‘colleague’ felt the same.
[System Alarm: Colleague ‘Seo Taehyun’ has gained an epiphany! (Congratulations Reward∥300 Cash)]
[System Alarm: Colleague’s epiphany greatly aids quest progress!]
[System Alarm: Colleague ‘Seo Taehyun’s’ past timeline (1) is unlocked!]
‘Something… interesting has triggered again.’
[System Alarm: The update was worth it!]
Yes, how delightful.
“Yes, Sad Ending team. Well done. Please come to the center of the stage.”
With Seo Taeil’s lead comment, the trainees who had stopped moved all at once. Haru, who had faced the ending alone in front of the desk, turned around with a proud smile.
The stage for had ended.
* * *
“Ah, this is interesting.”
“It makes me a bit nervous, the juniors did so well.”
While the trainees quenched their thirst and touched up their makeup, evaluations were exchanged among the mentors. And among those evaluations, there was one person who remained unusually quiet, organizing her thoughts.
“…….”
Sarin, the original songwriter of , slowly blinked her eyes, staring at the stage. The trainees who had just reinterpreted and sung her song were patting each other’s shoulders with relieved expressions.
The satisfaction of having done everything they could, the ease that comes after pouring out everything.
‘Ah… I’m envious.’
It was all something she had longed for.
“…Noona, are you okay?”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
Noticing her dark expression, Taeil asked quietly, and Sarin, startled, nodded. Then she stared at her evaluation sheet, which she hadn’t written anything on.
“Hey, Taeil.”
“Yes, noona. You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”
“No, I’m fine. That… the evaluation.”
“Yes.”
The lighting setup was changing, and the assistant director was seen climbing onto the stage with the slate, indicating that recording would resume soon.
Sarin, still fixing her gaze on the stage, tightly gripped and released her pen and spoke to Taeil.
“Can I go first with the evaluation? If it’s not a big problem….”
At her cautious words, Taeil chuckled and nodded.
“Of course, there’s no problem. You’re the original songwriter. I’ll ask you first.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Relieved by Taeil’s prompt reply, Sarin also took a deep breath with a small smile. She just wanted to be the first to convey the preciousness of this stage.
* * *
“…Dan Haru, what’s with your expression?”
I had stepped out to get some water from a staff member when they took a short break, and when I returned, Dan Haru, who was standing early in the center of the stage, looked a bit sullen.
A few minutes ago, he had sparkled like a bunny who had achieved his goal, but now what was this?
“Hungry?”
“No… no one cried.”
“……?”
It turned out his adorable self-reproach was because he hadn’t forgotten my grand goal to make at least one person cry.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t have to be the mentors who cry.”
“…Really?”
In the first place, the goal wasn’t genuinely to make someone cry.
‘It was to make them forget about Sarin’s original.’
If the people who listened to this song could momentarily forget the original and fully receive the emotions we wanted to convey, that was enough.
This stage wasn’t prepared with the ambition to take first place but just to surpass Han Sungwoo
.
“You did well, Dan Haru.”
When I patted Dan Haru’s back, who had played his role perfectly, he finally returned to his happy bunny state and smiled faintly. He wriggled his body, clearly pleased, like a happy rabbit.
“Okay, Sad Ending team. Align at the center of the stage.”
“Yes.”
“Recording begins! One, two―.”
And finally, it was time to hear the evaluations.
“Let’s hear the evaluation for Sad Ending team’s ‘A Shout Out to You’. First… Mentor Sarin, who is the original songwriter, how did you find it?”
“Gasp.”
When the original songwriter appeared as the first evaluator, Park Jaeyoung made a choking sound. I subtly nudged Park Jaeyoung in the ribs and looked at the mentor’s table with the most respectful expression.
“…Hmm.”
Sarin eagerly grabbed the microphone, but couldn’t open her mouth easily. She seemed to be carefully selecting her words in her head. Still, the silence didn’t last long.
“I kept wondering how to start…”
“…….”
“Thank you.”
Suddenly?
“Thank you for showing me that this song can be sung this way.”
I expected some compliments, but her voice was more sincere than I anticipated, and I was a bit taken aback. I just thought she would smile kindly and say, “Thank you for singing my song well, juniors….”
For some reason, Sarin’s expression looking at us was not ordinary.
“Ah….”
“…….”
“Ha, I really didn’t want to cry.”
Then, her eyes quickly reddened, and she started fanning her face while looking up at the sky. Seo Taeil quickly grabbed a few tissues from the floor and handed them to her, and she openly wiped her tears. Uh, oh?
“You gave me the courage to sing again. Thank you, Sad Ending team.”
Well, we didn’t intend to do this well!
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